Recipe of the week: raspberry ricotta cake by Alison Roman
This delicious cake can be baked with jam swirled in if you’re craving something a bit stickier

This cake is intended to be on the less-sweet side, says Alison Roman. If you’re craving something a bit stickier, a bit sweeter, know that, in lieu of the unsweetened berries, this versatile batter can be baked with one cup of jam or marmalade swirled in. The result will still be very delicious and extremely snackable.
Ingredients: makes one 23cm cake
- Cooking spray, for greasing
- 220g plain flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 365g ricotta cheese
- 275g sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- grated zest of 1 lemon, lime, grapefruit or orange (optional)
- 115g unsalted butter, melted
- 340-450g raspberries or blackberries, fresh or frozen
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spray a 23cm round cake tin with cooking spray and line with a round of baking paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the ricotta, 220g of the sugar, the eggs, vanilla and citrus zest (if using) until smooth. Whisk or gently fold into the flour mixture until just blended. Fold in the melted butter, followed by half the raspberries, crushing them ever so slightly as you fold – you don’t want them to disappear into the batter, just to be distributed evenly to create a nice, streaky look, almost like tie-dye.
- Transfer the batter to the cake tin and scatter the remaining raspberries and 55g sugar over the top. (It might look like a lot of sugar – because it is! But it’s necessary, promise.)
- Bake until the cake is golden brown, and a tester or toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean (55-65 minutes). Let cool for at least 20 minutes before unmoulding.
- Eat with: a bowl of ricotta (sweetened or unsweetened) on the side (you know you want to).
- Do ahead: this cake can be baked 3 days ahead, wrapped tightly in plastic and stored at room temperature.
Taken from Sweet Enough: A Baking Book by Alison Roman, published by Hardie Grant at £28. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £21.99 (incl. p&p), call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk
Sign up for the Food & Drink newsletter for recipes, reviews and recommendations
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the right
Speed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Susie Dent picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The lexicographer and etymologist shares works by Jane Goodall, Noel Streatfeild and Madeleine Pelling
-
6 incredible homes under $1 million
Feature Featuring a home in the National Historic Landmark District of Virginia and a renovated mid-century modern house in Washington
-
The Harder They Come: ‘triumphant’ adaptation of cinema classic
The Week Recommends ‘Uniformly excellent’ cast follow an aspiring musician facing the ‘corruption’ of Kingston, Jamaica
-
House of Guinness: ‘rip-roaring’ Dublin brewing dynasty period drama
The Week Recommends The Irish series mixes the family tangles of ‘Downton’ and ‘Succession’ for a ‘dark’ and ‘quaffable’ watch
-
Dead of Winter: a ‘kick-ass’ hostage thriller
The Week Recommends Emma Thompson plays against type in suspenseful Minnesota-set hair-raiser ‘ringing with gunshots’
-
A Booker shortlist for grown-ups?
Talking Point Dominated by middle-aged authors, this year’s list is a return to ‘good old-fashioned literary fiction’
-
Fractured France: an ‘informative and funny’ enquiry
The Week Recommends Andrew Hussey's work is a blend of ‘memoir, travelogue and personal confession’
-
Art review: Sixties Surreal
Feature Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, through Jan. 19